Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Translation Studies

Critical Thinking: A Reading Strategy in Developing English Reading Comprehension Performance

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Islamic Azad University, Ayatollah Amoli Branch

Abstract

There is a general consensus that critical thinking can be influential in almost every occupation due to its association with the abilities such as problem solving and decision making. This paper aims at probing the role of critical thinking (CT) skills on EFL learners' reading comprehension performance using Bloom's taxonomy. Therefore, the role of CT strategies training across two language proficiency levels, high & low, was investigated. Then the difference between females and males regarding their CT was studied. In so doing, 240 male and female Iranian EFL students were selected and screened into two proficiency levels based on the Longman preparation course for TOEFL test. Each proficiency group was divided into critical and non-critical group. The results suggested CT skills significantly affected EFL learners’ reading comprehension performance. However, the effect of critical thinking strategy training didn’t vary across different language proficiency levels. Overall, the findings provide empirical support for the facilitative effect of critical thinking strategy training on reading comprehension performance of EFL learners.

Keywords

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Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Translation Studies
Volume 1, Issue 2
July 2012
Pages 21-34
  • Receive Date: 23 November 2018
  • Accept Date: 23 November 2018